Daily Kickoff
👋 Good Monday morning!
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at growing congressional support for Israel’s entry into theU.S.’ Visa Waiver Program, and do a deep dive into how Cormac McCarthy’s feelings about the Jewish people were woven into his final books. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Victoria Coates, Mark Oppenheimer and Dov Zakheim.
Saudi Ambassador to the U.S. Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud said on Saturday afternoon that Israeli-Palestinian peace was in line with Vision 2030, the kingdom’s massive social reform project. “We want to see a thriving Israel,” she said. “We want to see a thriving Palestine. Vision 2030 talks about a unified, integrated, thriving Middle East and last I checked, Israel was there. We want a thriving Red Sea economy.”
The ambassador, speaking in conversation with NBC’s Andrea Mitchell at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Aspen, Colo., said that the Saudi kingdom focuses on integration over normalized relations with Israel, Jewish Insider‘s Melissa Weiss reports. “We don’t say normalization, we talk about an integrated Middle East, unified [as] a bloc like Europe, where we all have sovereign rights and sovereign states, but we have a shared and common interest,” Princess Reema explained. “So that’s not normalization. Normalization is you’re sitting there, and I’m sitting here, and we kind of coexist, but separately. Integration means our people collaborate, our businesses collaborate, and our youth thrive.”
Princess Reema added that the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government toward the Palestinians are complicating efforts to reach a broader peace in the region. Prompted by a question from Mitchell, Princess Reema said the Israeli government’s current approach in the West Bank is “so terrible,” calling settlements in particular “problematic” and “something that we’re trying to solve.”
She also addressed reported Saudi demands for U.S. support for building up the Gulf nation’s nuclear program, which has been reported as a key demand from Riyadh in exchange for an upgrade in ties with Israel. Princess Reema said that Saudi Arabia would “always come to the U.S. first” when it comes to looking for new technology, but dodged a question from Mitchell on whether Riyadh would seek the technology elsewhere, calling the topic “too big a conversation to debate today.”
Princess Reema said Riyadh is “working on” plans to reopen its embassy in Tehran following the restoration of ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran, brokered by China in March, while keeping the door open to continued cooperation with Washington. “We’re supremely and ultimately aligned with the U.S. and U.S. policies,” she said, “particularly when it comes to regional activities in the Middle East.”
Diplomacy with Iran, Princess Reema continued, provides “another way” to deescalate tensions in the region. “You do not want a nuclear Iran pointing itself at the rest of us,” she said. “You don’t want us poking and prodding. You don’t want Israel poking and prodding. You don’t want the Iranians aiming at Israel. You don’t want any of that.” Read the full story here.
visa momentum
Legislative momentum grows for Israel joining Visa Waiver Program
Nearly two-thirds of the Senate signed onto a letter, sent Wednesday, urging the administration to work to add Israel to the Visa Waiver Program this year, before an upcoming Sept. 30 deadline, a development that marks momentum in support for Israel’s effort to qualify for the program, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. A similar effort in December 2021 drew just 18 signatories.
Opposing letter: The bipartisan letter comes on the heels of a late May letter from 16 Democratic senators that — while stating support for Israel’s entry into the program in principle — argued that Israel still falls short of the requirements for admission into the program and is not likely to fulfill certain requirements by the September deadline. The new bipartisan letter sends the opposite message.
Background: Israel had moved toward its long-sought entry into the visa-free travel program in recent years, with the goal of finalizing the move this year. Israel’s entry had been impossible in previous years because it fell short of some of the requirements for the program, including a low visa refusal rate. Israel has recently taken steps toward compliance with the requirements, though opponents allege that it still fails to provide equal treatment to Arab, Muslim and Palestinian Americans traveling to Israel.
scoop
Majority of House members call for increased measures to stop Iranian nuclear weapons
More than half of the House — 249 lawmakers, including 133 Democrats and 116 Republicans — joined a letter urging President Joe Biden to take additional steps to prevent Iran’s nuclear program and prepare to seek the reimposition of United Nations sanctions on Iran, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Increase efforts: While the letter, sent on Friday and obtained by JI, makes no mention of negotiations or potential settlements with Iran, it represents the largest unified call for stronger steps against Iran’s nuclear program among House Democrats since Biden took office. “The United States must increase its efforts to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons capability and to communicate to Iran, without any ambiguity, that any further progress in its nuclear program will result in severe consequences,” the letter reads. “Iran cannot be allowed to advance its nuclear program with impunity.”
Growing numbers: This latest letter, led by Reps. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) and Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), indicates an expanded appetite among a broad range of House Democrats for a more aggressive approach to Iran’s nuclear program. Signatories include Democrats who were supportive of the 2015 JCPOA, such as Rep. Greg Meeks (D-NY), the senior Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and No. 3 House Democrat Pete Aguilar (D-CA).
deep dive
Senate NDAA includes MARITIME Act, Mideast cyber cooperation, training for Israel on air refueling tankers
The 2024 National Defense Authorization Act draft approved by the Senate Armed Services Committee last week includes a series of priority provisions for pro-Israel advocates, including advancing Middle East naval and cybersecurity cooperation as well as accelerating training for Israeli pilots on the KC-46 refueling aircraft, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Out to sea: The bill includes the MARITIME Act, legislation advanced by the Abraham Accords Caucus that seeks to establish a cooperative maritime defense architecture among Abraham Accords member states with an eye toward countering Iran. “We are working in the Senate to bolster the defensive partnerships between the United States and our partners and allies in the Middle East, especially in the face of growing threats from Iran and its terrorist proxies to maritime security,” Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), said in a statement. “Cooperation between the United States, Israel, and our partners and allies in the region is critical to our shared security and prosperity,” added Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA).
Up in the sky: The Senate NDAA includes a provision that would mandate that the Air Force “make accommodations to prioritize training Israelis on the KC-46” refueling aircraft, per an executive summary published by the committee on Friday. The provision appears similar to legislation from Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) that would require the Air Force to train Israeli pilots on the airborne tankers before the aircraft are delivered to Israel. Israel ordered four of the planes last year, after a yearslong delay, but the planes are not set to be delivered until 2025 and 2026. The aircraft are widely seen as critical for a potential Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
author intrigue
Cormac McCarthy’s long-held admiration for Jewish achievement culminated in his final two novels
When Cormac McCarthy published his final two novels in quick succession late last year, it did not go unnoticed that he had created his first major female protagonist: Alicia Western, the tortured mathematical genius at the center of Stella Maris — a hauntingly rendered transcription of her therapy sessions at a psychiatric institution in rural Wisconsin. In form and focus, the book was an unusual departure for McCarthy, a titan of American literature who died two weeks ago, just short of his 90th birthday. Equally intriguing, however, was that McCarthy had made the siblings Jewish. It was a curious biographical choice that has continued to puzzle McCarthy scholars who have scoured the books for insights into his decision. The most reasonable explanation, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel writes, is that McCarthy was motivated, at least in part, by a commitment to historical reconstruction: The siblings’ father, a brilliant physicist who studied with Einstein, worked on the Manhattan Project, where a number of Jewish scientists helped design the atom bomb.
Haunted by history: The Westerns are tormented by their connection to the project and the destruction it ultimately wrought. Bobby, for instance, “fully understood that he owed his existence to Adolf Hitler,” McCarthy writes in a characteristically portentous passage. “That the forces of history which had ushered his troubled life into the tapestry were those of Auschwitz and Hiroshima, the sister events that sealed forever the fate of the West.”
‘Pattern of admiration’: The Westerns’ Jewish heritage was likely more meaningful to McCarthy than his own renderings might suggest. In some ways, it could be interpreted as a testament to a privately held — and little-known — reverence for the Jewish experience. The author had “a sincere pattern of admiration for Jewish people and Jewish culture,” said Bryan Giemza, an associate professor of humanities and literature at Texas Texas Tech University and the author of Science and Literature in Cormac McCarthy’s Expanding Worlds, published earlier this month.
budget draft
House foreign appropriations subcommittee calls to cut U.S. funding to United Nations
Responding to concerns over anti-Israel and antisemitic bias at the United Nations, the House subcommittee responsible for providing funding for the State Department and foreign programs is pushing to eliminate U.S. funding for the United Nations’ general budget in its 2024 budget proposal. The House Appropriations Committee’s State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs subcommittee advanced a draft funding bill on Friday that would make significant changes to the U.S.’ posture toward the United Nations, as well as implement a host of other policy reforms governing U.S. funding to the U.N., Iran, and more, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Chair’s remarks: “Israel is routinely attacked and undermined across the entire U.N. system, while the world’s worst human rights abusers remain, frankly, relatively untouched,” Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), who chairs the subcommittee, said during Friday’s markup. “Therefore, it should come as no surprise that no funds are included in this bill for the U.N. regular budget. The ineffectiveness and the egregious failures of the United Nations and U.N. bodies do not merit support.”
Lee’s opposition: Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), the subcommittee ranking member, described the bill, which came in nearly 25% below the president’s budget request, as “extremely disturbing.” She intimated that the bill would be dead-on-arrival in the Senate. Lee is running for a Senate seat in California. This bill “views the world in a black-and-white, good-and-evil paradigm. If we don’t like everything about an organization, or can’t control their actions, this bill prohibits funding,” Lee continued. “Believe me, that’s not the approach the government of [China] is taking… This is a deeply political bill that seeks to satisfy some very extreme members of Congress among us, without consideration of the real-life consequences.”
Worthy Reads
🕍 Death of a Minyan: In The New York Times, Mark Oppenheimer explores how the Tree of Life shooting has impacted the congregations’ ability to reach a minyan of 10 people, required for certain prayers. “In the next phase of the trial, jurors will decide whether to give Mr. Bowers the death penalty. Those who support putting him to death may argue that his execution would deliver some sort of justice for the 11 he killed. But it will do nothing for those who cannot say Kaddish for a loved one because the 10th person at the minyan, the one who would have permitted the prayers to be said, is now underground. Tree of Life and its two tenant congregations all lost members in the shooting, and they all have struggled to replace these loyal minyan-makers. On the days when a synagogue gets to nine Jews, what is needed is another Jew who comes early, is reliably present, is simply there. Such a Jew can be pious or agnostic, observant or wayward. A Jew like me, or like you.” [NYTimes]
🗳️ Campaign Crew: The Wall Street Journal’s Ken Thomas and Catherine Lucey spotlight Jeffrey Katzenberg’s role as a co-chair of President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign. “A big personality in any room, Katzenberg has long exuded confidence from years as a top executive in the film industry and is known for his hard-driving ways. That confidence, people who have talked to him say, now extends to 2024, with a firm belief that Donald Trump is likely to be the Republican nominee and that Biden is well-positioned to beat him. Biden was less than 24 hours away from launching his re-election campaign in late April when he welcomed Katzenberg to the White House to discuss the role, which advisers said would provide a fresh, not-from-Washington outlook. A day later, the co-founder of DreamWorks SKG was announced as one of seven national co-chairs of Biden’s 2024 campaign. He is the only one who doesn’t hold elected office. Katzenberg’s role is still evolving but will certainly be broad, people close to the campaign say. He is expected to help raise as much as $2 billion, as well as working to connect the campaign with top minds in technology, social- media and messaging strategies.” [WSJ]
🌐 Regional Implications: In The Hill, Dov Zakheim cautions that the Biden administration’s efforts to reach a compromise with Iran over its nuclear program could affect efforts to expand the Abraham Accords. “The restoration of diplomatic relations between Tehran and Riyadh after a seven-year hiatus adds yet another complication to efforts to bring Saudi into the Abraham Accords. Iran will surely press the Saudis not to go any further in their dealings with the Jewish State. Moreover, if there is any truth to Iran’s thus-far unsubstantiated claim that it would soon establish a naval alliance with the Saudis, the UAE, and other Gulf states, Tehran would have another way to dissuade the Saudis from joining the Accords. Finally, it is difficult to see how the administration’s current efforts to reach an understanding with Iran would enhance the prospect of expanding the Abraham Accords. Deterring Iran has been a major driver of cooperation between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Indeed, it was the Obama administration’s decision not to keep its regional allies fully informed of its efforts to reach the agreement with Iran that brought the Saudis and Israelis together in the first place.” [TheHill]
🇸🇦 Saudi Sojourn: The New York Times’ Vivian Nereim looks at the growing popularity of Saudi Arabia among Christian travelers, who have flocked to the country in recent years. “These were not the visitors Saudi officials expected when they opened the country’s borders to leisure tourists in 2019, seeking to diversify the oil-dependent economy and present a new face to the world. First would come the adventurers, they thought — seasoned travelers searching for an unusual destination — and then the luxury market, with yacht owners flocking to resorts that the government is building on the Red Sea coast. No one in the conservative Islamic kingdom had planned for the Christians. Yet Christians of many stripes — including Baptists, Mennonites and others who call themselves ‘children of God’ — were among the first people to use the new Saudi tourist visas. Since then, they have grown steadily in numbers, drawn by word of mouth and viral YouTube videos arguing that Saudi Arabia, not Egypt, is the site of Mount Sinai, the peak where Jewish and Christian Scriptures describe God revealing the Ten Commandments.” [NYTimes]
☢️ Prevention Policy: In the Washington Post, Ambassador Dennis Ross suggests how the Biden administration can maintain a policy of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. “Senior administration officials have indicated that they have threatened Iran with severe consequences should they enrich to 90 percent (which is weapons-grade.) That’s good, but going from 60 to 90 percent takes little time. Moreover, freezing the Iranians at 60 percent means that enrichment to that level is now acceptable, even though it has no real utility other than for bombmaking. Worse, if 60 percent is largely in sites or facilities that are less and less vulnerable to attack, it means that Iran can develop a bomb at a time of its choosing. In other words, allowing the Iranians to enrich to 60 percent while allowing them to make their nuclear facilities invulnerable to attack amounts to the United States fundamentally altering its approach to the Middle East. Instead of seeking to prevent Iran from going nuclear as it has up until now, the United States would be tacitly shifting to a policy of accepting Iran’s nuclear status and relying on deterrence. It would be shifting from a policy of prevention to a policy of containment.” [WashPost]
Around the Web
↔️ Policy Reversal: The Biden administration reversed a Trump-era move that allowed American taxpayer funds to go to research and development and scientific projects in West Bank settlements.
✋ ESG Not AOK: BlackRock CEO Larry Fink addressed the environment, social and governance (ESG) movement at the Aspen Ideas Festival over the weekend, saying he was “ashamed” to be involved in debate on the issue, noting that the national conversation around ESG has become politically “weaponized.”
🎙️ CNN on the Block?The New York Postreports that Warner Bros. Discovery may sell CNN in the next year — and that former CEO Jeff Zucker has emerged as a potential buyer.
🎶 Hava Nagila Hit: The New York Times looks at the growing mainstream popularity of “Hava Nagila,” which is being played from clubs around the world to local gigs.
🕍 Voicing Concern: Lawmakers in Georgia are speaking out against neo-Nazi rallies that took place outside two synagogues in the state over the weekend.
🪦 Righting a Wrong: Local officials and Jewish leaders in Waukegan, Ill., held a rededication ceremony at a Jewish cemetery that was vandalized last November.
🏗️ Charged Debate: The Washington Post looks at the debate over the creation of a memorial on the Surfside, Fla., property that was the site of the 2021 condominium collapse, following its purchase by the Dubai-based DAMAC International.
🤣 Comic Relief: The New York Timesinterviewed Alex Edelman, whose one-man show “Just For Us,” opened on Broadway last week.
🛃 FM Fiasco: Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib is facing questions from lawmakers over her decision to issue visas to members of a visiting Iranian delegation that included at least one hardline regime supporter.
🏖️ Thwarted Attack: Israel praised the foiling of an Iranian terror attack targeting Israeli tourists in Cyprus.
🔥 West Bank Violence: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to acts of settler violence in Palestinian West Bank towns over the weekend, cautioning that illegal land grabs “undermine law and order” in the territory. Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir rebuked Israeli police — who, along with the IDF and Israel Securities Agency, condemned the settler attacks — for what he said was “collective punishment” targeting settlers.
🇮🇱 Internal Strife: Bloomberglooks at the growing divide in Israel between the country’s secular and Haredi populations.
👩🎤 Christina Concert: Singer Christina Aguilera posted a video teasing an “unforgettable night” at her upcoming concert in Israel, the first time she’s performed in the country.
⚖️ Back On: Israeli lawmakers resumed debate over the government’s proposed judicial reforms, following a monthslong pause while government officials and opposition leaders attempted to reach a compromise.
👨⚖️ Milchan’s Moment: Film mogul Arnon Milchan testified on Sunday in the corruption trial of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
⏸️ On Pause: Morocco confirmed that the upcoming ministerial meeting of the Negev Forum was postponed until at least the fall, with officials in Rabat saying the gathering needs to take place amid the “appropriate political context.”
📰 Bibi’s Back: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sat withThe Jerusalem Post for his first interview with an Israeli newspaper since returning to power.
🇮🇷 Eye on Iran: TIME magazine’s Ian Bremmer considers how the confluence of protests, sanctions and the eventual death of Iran’s supreme leader will affect the trajectory of the Islamic republic.
🚗 Cadillac Comeback: The Associated Press spotlights an automotive restorer who works on the 1978 Cadillac Sevilles that were hugely popular in Iran at the time of their manufacturing.
➡️ Transitions: Victoria Coates, who served as senior advisor to the secretary of energy during the Trump administration, was appointed as the vice president of foreign policy at the Heritage Foundation.
🕯️ Remembering: Lyricist Sheldon Harnick, who penned the lyrics to “Fiddler on the Roof,” died at 99. Economist Harry Markowitz, who won a Nobel Prize in 1990 for his modern portfolio theory, died at 95. Journalist and columnist Rita Reif, who challenged the ownership of a painting believed to be looted by the Nazis after being in the possession of her husband’s family, died at 94. Czech photographer Paul Ickovic, whose images capture street life around the world, died at 79.
Pic of the Day
The Pears Jewish Campus in Berlin opened on Sunday in a festive ceremony with the participation of Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner, Israeli Ambassador to Germany Ron Prosor, President of the Central Council of Jews Josef Schuster and Israel’s Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef.
Birthdays
Partner in the law firm BakerHostetler known for his recovery of funds from the Madoff investment scandal, Irving H. Picard turns 82…
British Labour party member of Parliament for 42 years, David Winnick turns 90… Independent insurance agent and investment manager, David A. Marks… Retired co-host for more than 30 years of NPR’s “All Things Considered,” Robert Siegel turns 76… Rabbi of Congregation Chaverim in Tucson, Ariz., for more than 35 years, Stephanie Aaron… Founder of Grover Strategies, Alan Solow turns 69… CEO of Emerging Star Capital and the author of a biography of President Bill Clinton, Robert E. Levin… Attorney and Holocaust survivors’ rights advocate, Samuel J. Dubbin turns 68… CEO of ZMC, previously chairman of CBS and CEO of 20th Century Fox, Strauss Zelnick turns 66… Professor of psychology at Loyola University Maryland, Amy Ruth Wolfson, Ph.D…. Israeli actress and comedian, Anat Waxman turns 62… Once the wealthiest of all Russian businessmen, then a prisoner in Russia and now living in London, Mikhail Khodorkovsky turns 60… Novelist and journalist, most notable as the author of the Magicians trilogy, he was the book critic and lead technology writer at Time magazine, Lev Grossman… and his twin brother, author and video game designer, Austin Grossman both turn 54… Dean of Yeshiva University’s Sy Syms School of Business, Noam T. Wasserman turns 54… President and founder of Reut Group, Gidi Grinstein turns 53… Political commentator, YouTube personality, comedian and talk show host, Dave Rubin turns 47… Strategic communications consultant, Ross Feinstein… Associate in Mayer Brown’s D.C. office, Michael “Mickey” Leibner… Director of development at NYU’s Bronfman Center, Sara Fredman Aeder… Special advisor for implementation at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Asher J. Mayerson… Executive director of the Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California, David Bocarsly turns 33… Author and media personality, Elizabeth Pipko turns 28…
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